Our Children and 

 Their Flowers 



characteristic and more interesting to the mind of the child 

 than the botanical names — which I never could learn in 

 those days. 



How the Flowers 

 get their Names. 



Since then I have learnt many of their beautiful Swedish 

 names, just as characteristic as the English, and very often 

 very similar to those, since both have arisen from the same 

 source. Originally all education was in the hands of the 

 monks, and the majority of names have probably their 

 origin in Bible subjects. In those times the monks under- 

 stood how to teach the people, by the aid of their familiar 

 surroundings, to love both the history of the Bible and the 

 legends of the Church. To this end they gave each flower 

 a symbolic name, and each flower fulfilled a definite mission, 

 for, when the children picked the flowers, they were thus 

 reminded of a sacred subject. 



The people were also taught to make stiff little 

 bouquets, take them to the church and put them on the 

 altar. Each season and saint had its particular flower, 

 and a large number of flowers were dedicated to the 

 Virgin Mary. The custom of carrying a bouquet to church 

 still survives in the country districts of Sweden. 



The practice of dressing the Maypole with garlands on 

 Mid-Summer Eve is believed to be a survival of the teach- 

 ings of the monks, and is traced by some to the custom of 

 decorating the church for the Festival of St. John the Baptist. 



My children have derived great pleasure from their 

 habit of digging up plants anywhere and putting them in 

 their own little patch. It seems that the modest wild 

 flowers appeal to them more than any other ones. They 

 are keenly interested in the experiment of making the 

 woodland flowers at home in their garden. It is just in 

 connection with this part of their garden-work that I try- 

 by means of legends and old sayings — to teach my little 

 ones how the flowers got their names. That makes them 

 remember and recognise the flowers when they see 

 them again. 



65 



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